Category Archives: Places

R and R: Rest and Regret

I loved reading the comments on Friday’s post about Instagram media literacy! I figured many of you would be able to relate and I will be replying to the comments and continuing the discussion as soon as I can.

Major thanks again to everyone who was so supportive of my planned rest day this past Friday, from those who had tweets waiting for me before I even woke up, to those who checked in the day after. Whenever I wasn’t THINKING about not waking up to work out before or not driving to the gym after work, I felt okay. In fact (I will never not ask you guys to support me so please don’t take this the wrong way), sometimes I’d be good and not thinking about missing a workout and then I’d get a tweet or text asking me how the rest day was going, which unfortunately reminded me that I was taking one and made me feel guilty again. Catch-22!

UConn reunion: Ravi, Kelly, me, and Jeff.

UConn reunion: Ravi, Kelly, me, and Jeff.

My co-worker convinced me to pop into a Friday happy hour at a dive bar down the street from the office, because I always miss co-worker gatherings since I hit the gym after work. I figured since I wasn’t going to the gym that day, I should take advantage and stop by before I went to meet my college friends (above) for dinner and a night out. Ravi and Kelly were visiting from Long Island and Redding, CT (respectively) so that’s why I felt missing the gym and spending more time with them was important.

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Talcott Mountain Music Festival Giveaway

The winner of the LaMaLu Boutique giveaway (for a $15 gift code) is my girl Kaitlin! Congrats love, and remember everyone else can get 10% off with discount code CAITPLUSATE10 now through 8/15/13.

Wow wow WOW. I cannot get over the support I received after publishing yesterday’s post. Thank you so much for your comments, tweets, emails, and Facebook messages. I was SO very nervous to hit publish, and almost didn’t. But I’m proud of deciding to do so and am also relieved that the reaction has been (so far) positive. I have the best readers in the world!

I have a special post today geared toward Connecticut residents. Last summer I hosted a giveaway for two lawn seats to the Talcott Mountain Music Festival in Simsbury, CT…and it’s back again! The difference is this year, to entice you to enter, I have my own positive experience from last year to share.

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Just as many people were seated behind us as well!

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Marvelously Wiped From The Weekend

In case you missed it, I published my latest Taste of New Haven food tour recap on Friday!

Holyyyy moly. What a weekend. It absolutely wiped me out. To be honest, it was mostly Sunday that wiped me out, because the rest was not that out of the ordinary. Morning workouts and coffee…restaurant dinners…a salad beast…yup, sounds pretty typical. But throw in an all-day pool party at a casino and you have one exhausted me – for all the right, marvelous reasons!

Marvelous is…Katie, this movement’s creator, giving birth to a healthy baby boy! I couldn’t do a MIMM post without mentioning little Rocco…cute name, for a cute baby!

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Taste of New Haven: On 9 Tour

I just adore the Taste of New Haven food tours! So much so in fact, that I have now been on three of their currently offered tours, as well as one that is no longer offered. You can read my past recaps below:

Keep your eyes peeled on daily deal sites like Groupon or ChariDeal, because Taste of New Haven deals often pop up there – in fact, I have funded all four of the tours I’ve been on with a daily deal! Tickets are normally $55/person (plus tax) or one can become a member and get, among other perks, 20% off of an unlimited amount of tours. I may have used a daily deal for each tour I’ve been on, but I wholeheartedly believe and tell people often that the $55 price is MORE than worth it for the amount of food and drinks each person receives on a tour! The owner, head tour guide, and author Colin Caplan will even try to get substitutions for folks with dietary modifications (within reason).

Colin doin’ his tour guide thang.

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Grilled Whole Foods Wild Sockeye Salmon

I received wild sockeye salmon from Whole Foods Market free of charge. This is not a compensated post and all opinions are my own.

Firstly I must address the supportive comments and tweets I received in response to yesterday’s post. THANK YOU! It felt good to get it all off my chest and put my fears out in the open. After my post went up, Maria tweeted me a link to a Kris Carr article containing a nifty acronym…FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real. LOVE that! Fear is so often based on what is false and I’m feeling totally inspired to keep the acronym in mind today and beyond. Let’s get on with today’s blogging!

I worked with the three Hartford area Whole Foods stores (Glastonbury, West Hartford center, and Bishops Corner) previously during a one-day sale on shrimp. We teamed up again to promote the latest one-day sale, which took place last Friday 6/21 – wild sockeye salmon for just $11.99/lb!

Now that’s a LOT of salmon!

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Plank Challenge Met!

Yesterday I hit up my gym for my second-ever TRX personal training session with Marcy. She was kind enough to offer me a freebie after I blogged about my first one for Kaitlin! And I now have two more freebies under my belt (or yoga pant waistband) because before we did our TRX, I accepted – and met – the Healthtrax Abs of Steel June challenge!

I had to hold good form for the whole five minutes. The bottom right is me immediately after finishing. Sweet relief! (That’s what she said.)

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A Summer MIMM

Thank you for the enthusiasm for Bestowed and my giveaway for one of their monthly boxes of healthy snacks! I’m happy to announce the winner, but remember if that person is not you, there is still the promo code “5OFFBESTOWED01”, which does not expire and can be entered at checkout for $5 off your first box (regularly $19). For just $14 (shipping is included) I definitely think it’s worth a try! Enough blabbering – the winner is Jess W! Congrats and I will be contacting you about getting your prize!

I hope everyone had a marvelous first weekend of June! Well, Friday night was still May, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is it FELT like June. The weather was perfect all weekend along and I couldn’t be more grateful! While I felt low during some portions of the weekend, today I want to address the marvelous, which thankfully far outnumbered the mal (Spanish for “bad”).

Thanks Katie for keeping us positive on Mondays when it’s often most needed!

Marvelous is…your “Hey, It’s OK!” suggestions! I’ve seen healthy living “It’s OK!” ideas in comments, blog posts, and Instagrams in response to my post from last week – and I’m loving them.

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My First Massage – and One for You!

Unfortunately my host is under a bot attack that is targeting WordPress sites, so the blog has been down off and on since yesterday afternoon. I hope it gets resolved soon! In case you missed yesterday’s post about a paella cooking class I attended at my favorite restaurant for events, Barcelona in West Hartford, be sure to do so to learn about paella, pick up some cooking tips, and check out photos of both commonly and unusually delicious foods!

Despite my self-proclaimed addiction to daily deal sites, where  discounted massages are available on the reg, I have never had a massage! That is until I was contacted by Randi Plake, on behalf of Kellie Dunne and Brilliant Options Wellness in Plantsville, CT. Kellie is a Licensed Massage Therapist, as well as a Certified Health Coach and Occupational Therapist.

The radiant Kellie! (Source)

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Chobani and Physique 57 in NYC – Again!

During my August NYC trip for BlogHer ’12, I had two very important “firsts” – my first Physique 57 class (followed by a second a day later, holy addiction) and my first trip to then-new Chobani SoHo. I knew I wanted to experience both again during my NYC day-trip last week to tour the Elvis Duran Show, but would I be able to fit both in one afternoon? OBVIOUSLY.

Chobani SoHo

Kaitlin was super-excited for her first Chobani SoHo trip since she is a fellow Chobani fanatic! We arrived at the store after doing some fabulous shopping near the Elvis Duran studios (everything was grouped nice and close together) and found a sweet employee posted-up outside handing out samples of the PB&J creation (creamy PB, Concord grape jelly, sliced red grapes, peanuts, plain Cho).

Clearly everyone loved the samples - just one left!

Clearly everyone loved the samples – just one left!

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No we did not plan our matching jackets and bags.

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MIMM: Elvis Duran Show in NYC!

Man oh man! I am very thankful to It’s Only Natural for helping me spread the word about my gift card & cookbook giveaway – after they posted it on their Facebook page, I got tons of last minute entries! Oddly enough though, the winner was an early entrant – lucky #4!

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Congrats to my vegan friend Sasha. She has never been to ION before and I know she’s going to LOVE it! She also will be graduating from college this month so the cookbook is perfect for her as she embarks on post-college working life!

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Thanks to everyone who entered and I’ll see you at ION this summer at their weekend patio parties, yes?

Last Tuesday 4/30 I had the most marvelous opportunity ever – the chance to bring my blend Kaitlin with me to NYC so we could visit our favorite morning radio show, The Elvis Duran Show, at the Z100 Studios! I still remember the first time Web Girl Kathleen, the show’s web girl, tweeted me saying she liked my blog. Who knew that eventually she’d be sweet enough to extend an invite to me to come and tour the studio!

Thank you Katie for inspiring me to share what’s marvelous every Monday!

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Meet Caitlin

I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!

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Design Credit

My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!

Disclaimer

I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.

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